Eustis was put in an unusual position in its Class 5A softball state tournament semifinal.

The Panthers, who rarely trailed throughout the season, had to rally twice while overcoming several errors to pull out a 9-5 win over Wauchula Hardee in Vero Beach on Friday.

Eustis (26-1) advances to Saturday’s state championship game at Historic Dodgertown against Coral Springs Charter (29-1) at 10:05 a.m.

Coral Springs Charter won 3-1 over DeFuniak Springs Walton.

“Defensively that was by far the worst we’ve played. We just weren’t expecting the ball,” Eustis coach Brittany Beall said. “And offensively we left so many people on base, but when we had to put the ball on the bat as far as having runners in scoring position, we did have some clutch hits.”

Eustis, ranked No. 1 in the Sentinel Super Six, committed four errors and stranded 10 on base. But seven players combined for 13 hits to extend the Panthers’ winning streak to 24 in a row.

Hobie Hiler / Special to the Sentinel

Tori Rodebaugh was one of seven players to log a base hit for Eustis in a Class 5A state semifinal Friday.

Tori Rodebaugh was one of seven players to log a base hit for Eustis in a Class 5A state semifinal Friday. (Hobie Hiler / Special to the Sentinel)

Lexi Rodriguez finished 3-for-4 with a double and one run scored. Leah Hanks, Tori Rodebaugh, Graelyn Crawford and Katie Johnson reached safely on two hits apiece.

“I knew we just had to keep our energy up and keep our intensity up and never give in to them leading,” Rodebaugh said. “Eustis has never been this far and it’s something to really be excited about.”

Destinee Jackson homered in the bottom of the first inning to give Hardee (21-7) an early 2-0 lead.

Eustis tied the game on a pair of errors in the third before junior Seriah Brokenborough singled to the gap in left field to plate two more runs.

“It really pushed us and motivated us more to really come back and show them that we’re not just some dingy team from Eustis, we’re something big and something special,” Brokenborough said of the early deficit. “I was just thinking about putting the ball in play and moving the runners and helping my team.”

The Panthers would have to respond once more after a triple by Makayla Benavidez and a throwing error helped Hardee reclaim a 5-4 advantage in the fifth.

A single by Hanks and three Hardee errors led to two runs for Eustis in the sixth.

Hobie Hiler / Special to the Sentinel

Jaycie Michael scored twice on Friday to help Eustis reach the Class 5A state championship game.

Jaycie Michael scored twice on Friday to help Eustis reach the Class 5A state championship game. (Hobie Hiler / Special to the Sentinel)

Hardee scored all five of its runs while facing two outs. But the Wildcats finished the game with 10 errors, including five over the final two innings.

“We came into states expecting a good game, so we knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout and that we were going to have to play hard, like we’ve been playing all year,” said junior Jaycie Michael, who reached the 2A semifinals last season with Mount Dora Christian Academy.

“Coach has been telling us that the more we get into the season the harder it’s going to get for us, and we saw that today,” Michael said. “But we have hitters all the way down the lineup that can put runs on the board, and it was the whole lineup working to get those.”

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Some of the area's top high school football team will go head-to-head in exhibition games.

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The 19th annual Varsity Sports Awards Show, held at Camping World Stadium on June 14, 2017.

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